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‘You can’t expect me to make up my mind now. I’ll need time to think about it.’
‘I’m not selling you a car, Mimi.’ He let his gaze drift over her face, enjoying the mix of frustration and fear in her blue eyes. ‘Look, I’m a busy man, so I’m afraid you’re going to have to work around my schedule—and that means you coming to Buenos Aires this Friday.’
‘What about my schedule?’ she snapped.
‘I think Crema will probably be able to fill your shifts quite quickly, don’t you?’
He’d deliberately made his voice condescending, and it was a measure of her fury that she didn’t even register the fact that he knew where she worked.
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nbsp; She glared across the table. ‘You are so unspeakably arrogant.’
‘No, I’m just honest—but I guess that’s a bit of an alien concept to you.’ Their eyes locked, hers furious, his taunting. ‘How are Charlie and Raymond, by the way? Still enjoying their stay at Her Majesty’s pleasure?’
She stared at him, a flush of pink spreading like a sunset over her incredible cheekbones. ‘You are a horrible man.’
‘And you are bad news.’ He held her gaze, ignoring the pull of her scornful pout, wishing she didn’t look quite so sexy when she was angry. ‘So, if we’re done trading insults, let me tell you how this is going to work. The last thing my family needs on my sister’s wedding day is a scandal.’
And it wasn’t going to happen on his watch. He’d learned his lesson two years ago, when his hasty, mismanaged, ego-led decision to employ Charlie and Raymond had so spectacularly backfired. He’d been responsible for that disaster, and the collateral damage it had caused, and it was his job—his duty—to prevent anything like that happening again.
He looked up, his eyes holding hers. ‘Particularly one involving you. So I need you to conduct yourself in a proper manner. That means following my rules, and it’ll be easier to explain those rules on-site. But if you don’t think you’re mature enough to handle one little fully paid trip to Buenos Aires, then call Alicia.’ He held out his phone. ‘And break her heart.’
She stared at him mutely. ‘You really are quite something. All that guff about moving forward was just for Alicia’s benefit.’
‘Don’t push it, Mimi. I’m not going to fall out with my sister over this, but if you think that means you get a free rein in my home then you really don’t know me at all.’
‘Thankfully, no,’ she spat. ‘But if you feel that strongly about me then why don’t I just stay in a hotel? Don’t worry. I’ll pay.’
Her skin was flawless, and the soft curl of her mouth was making him lose concentration. She was beautiful and angry and he badly wanted to kiss her.
And that was what gave him the strength to lean back in his chair.
‘Sadly, that wouldn’t work for me,’ he said softly. ‘You see, I prefer to keep my friends close but my enemies closer.’
CHAPTER THREE
LEANING FORWARD, MIMI gazed out through the limousine’s tinted window, a pulse of excitement scampering over her skin as the unfamiliar streets of Buenos Aires spun past her eyes.
Bautista Caine might be the most annoying, self-satisfied and judgmental man she had ever met, but right now she couldn’t help grudgingly feeling just the teensiest bit grateful to him—for had she been paying for this trip it would have been a far less comfortable experience.
Travelling first class, with the added bonus of being a ‘friend’ of the Caine family, had not only made the thirteen-hour flight pass with surprising speed, but there had been a few other surprises too—like a complimentary facial and this chauffeur-driven limo waiting for her at Ezeiza Airport!
Her mouth twisted. Once, that kind of luxury had been normal to her. Her stepfather’s job at Caine’s, the private bank founded by Basa’s great-grandfather, had given her family an enviable lifestyle. They’d moved to Chesham Place and she’d been sent to the same exclusive school as Alicia. There had been summer holidays in the Caribbean and skiing breaks in Aspen and Verbier.
But, really, enjoyable as it had been to have so much money, the best thing for her had been seeing her mother Nancy free of her habitual disappointment in being married to a man she didn’t like and certainly didn’t love.
And then, almost overnight, it had gone. Everything. The house. The holidays. Her mother’s happiness. And suddenly she had gone back to being one of the have-nots.
Charlie and Raymond had both been sent to prison, and she and her mother had wound up in a small terraced house in Bexley. Not that she’d minded much by then. She’d been desperate to escape the clumps of photographers lurking outside the house, and the neighbours who had gossiped about her behind their hands.
Only Alicia, the one person who had every right to reject and resent her, had stayed loyal. And that was why she was here—whatever her brother might choose to tell himself.
Her shoulders tensed against the smooth leather, the memory of their last meeting replaying inside her head. It was galling how easily he had got his own way—and, truthfully, that was what this trip was about. However Basa might choose to dress it up, he’d been throwing his weight around. Even now, two days after it had happened, it still made her go hot and cold.
The cold was understandable. On its own, his last remark had been enough to send icy shivers down anyone’s spine, but the heat...
Lip curling, she blanked out the memory of her body’s involuntary and mortifying response to his and sat up straighter in her seat.
